Enjoy!

Cheers,
RBH

GAAP operating margin increased to 22.2% for the quarter, compared to 20.9% for the same period last year. Non-GAAP operating margin decreased slightly to 30.6% for the quarter, compared to 30.7% for the same period last year, as productivity gains were offset by faster growth in the company’s lower-margin PayPal business and lower take rates.

“Our first quarter results reflect another strong step toward achieving our three-year growth and profitability goals,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “We are becoming a more customer-focused and technology-driven company, delivering more innovative products and experiences and driving operating efficiencies to reinvest in growth. We are improving the fundamentals of our business, strengthening eBay Marketplaces and aggressively growing PayPal to become the leader in global online payments.”

eBay Inc. generated $418.3 million of operating cash flow and $266.0 million of free cash flow during the first quarter. Operating cash flow and free cash flow were reduced by a one-time tax payment of $207.4 million related to a legal entity restructuring, as a result of which the company moved approximately $1.1 billion in cash to the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2009.

If you are unable to listen along to the live earnings call by clicking here, you can follow along with my tweets in real-time, beginning at 2pm PT. I will be live-blogging here on the homepage of eBay Ink. Also, you can get up-to-the-minute information here and access the full press release HERE.

For folks interested in following the entire conversation on Twitter, the hashtag is #eBayQ110.

Cheers,
RBH

The company recorded net income on a GAAP basis of $1.4 billion or $1.02 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $585.8 million or $0.44 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2009. For the full year, eBay Inc. posted $8.7 billion in revenue, net income on a GAAP basis of $2.4 billion or $1.83 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.1 billion or $1.58 per diluted share.

“We delivered a strong fourth quarter with double-digit revenue growth driven by exceptional performance at PayPal and turnaround progress and momentum in our core eBay business,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “PayPal significantly expanded its presence globally and, for the first time, processed more than $20 billion in total payment volume in a quarter. Gross merchandise volume and sold items, accelerated for the third consecutive quarter. We are starting 2010 with significant progress against our three-year growth strategies for PayPal and eBay and a clear focus on our priorities going forward.”

eBay Inc. generated $770.6 million of operating cash flow $597.7 million of free cash flow during the fourth quarter.

After taking a break last quarter I will be back live-blogging our earnings via Twitter this afternoon. Therefore, if you are unable to listen along to the live earnings call by clicking here, you can follow along with my tweets in real-time, beginning at 2pm PT. Also, you can get up-to-the-minute information here and access the full press release here.

For folks interested in following the entire conversation on Twitter, the hashtag is #eBayQ409.

Cheers,
RBH

Every little bit helps
While funds raised by nonprofits are at an all-time low, this year’s eBay Giving Works figures were released during a year of significant growth for online fundraising. Online giving is growing at 44% per year, seven times faster than offline giving growth. Online giving has enabled charities to leverage the power of the individual through smaller, more modest donations. The eBay charity program was built expressly to support this kind of fundraising, capitalizing on the philanthropic instincts of eBay’s 89 million member community and pioneering a new model for giving back.

How it works:
eBay Giving Works enables eBay users to support their favorite causes whenever they buy and sell. Today the program offers five easy ways to make a difference:
• Community Selling: Any seller can donate part of their sale price to a nonprofit. The seller decides which organization to support and how much to give (10-100 percent), and gets a tax deduction for their gift.
• Direct Selling: Nonprofits can sell their own items on eBay to raise funds. eBay waives most basic selling fees for nonprofits, making Direct Selling practically free.
• Shop eBay Giving Works: Every item posted by a Community or Direct Seller bears the eBay Giving Works blue and yellow charity ribbon, so it’s easy for buyers to shop for items to support causes that matter to them.
• Give at Checkout: 1.5 million shoppers every day are invited to add a donation on top of their eBay purchase, when they pay by PayPal. Give at Checkout has raised nearly $5 million in its first 12 months.
• Donate Now: eBay and PayPal users who discover an eBay Giving Works organization they care about can give as little as $1 right away without buying or selling.

A recent study of eBay shopping behavior, conducted by Columbia Business School, verified the philanthropic instincts of the eBay community, indicating that eBay buyers are actually willing to pay more to do good. Results showed that an eBay Giving Works item advertising that 10% of proceeds will be given to charity is nearly 20% more likely to sell than its non-charity equivalent, and at a 2% higher price.

“The eBay community has proven time and again that small actions, when brought to scale, can have a big impact,” said eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe. “It’s what makes the eBay marketplace so unique, and what enables our community to do good things for causes they believe in. I want to thank every single buyer and seller who connected through eBay and gave back to their communities through eBay Giving Works. Your generosity this year, especially in such a tough economy, isn’t just impressive – it’s inspiring. We’re looking forward to helping you do even more good next year.”

You can read the full press release by visiting the ebayinc.com newsroom.

Fast facts about eBay Giving Works:
• Every minute, over $91 is raised for good causes on eBay
• Eight nonprofits in the U.S. have raised more than $1 million with eBay Giving Works
• The most money raised for charity from a single listing on eBay was $2.1 million in 2008, for a power lunch with Warren Buffett benefiting the Glide Foundation. The same auction in 2009 went for $1.68 million
• Kim Kardashian, a Top Rated eBay seller and avid eBay Giving Works supporter, has raised more than $47,700 for charity through the sale of her own clothing; she has raised $26,000 in 2009 alone
• In November and December of 2009, eBay Inc. matched $230,000 in funds that were committed via Give at Checkout

Cheers,
RBH

The first features eBay CEO, John Donahoe, discussing eBay’s take on Black Friday activity in the marketplace and PayPal‘s role in that. He also talks about m-commerce, and the early successes of the eBay Mobile application…

The second features PayPal president, Scott Thompson, discussing the 20% growth in PayPal traffic on Black Friday when compared to one year ago. He also discusses mobile payments:

Cheers,
RBH

“Our third quarter results were strong with PayPal gaining momentum and market share worldwide and our core eBay business showing positive trends,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “We’re delivering on our commitments, executing on our plans and operating smarter and faster.”

Net income on a GAAP basis was $349.7 million or $0.27 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income was $501.5 million or $0.38 per diluted share.

GAAP operating margin decreased to 19.8% for the quarter, compared to 24.7% for the same period last year. Non-GAAP operating margin decreased to 28.4% for the quarter, compared to 31.8% for the same period last year. The decrease in operating margins was caused primarily by the recently acquired Bill Me Later, the weaker U.S. dollar, and the company’s continuing shift to faster growing, lower margin businesses, partially offset by cost controls.

eBay Inc. generated $738.2 million of operating cash flow during the third quarter. Free cash flow during the quarter was $563.5 million.

Unfortunately I will be unable to live-blog our earnings via Twitter this quarter and instead, encourage you to listen along to the live earnings call by clicking here. Also, you can get up-to-the-minute information at both eBay Ink Blog News and ebayinc.com.

I’ll be back in the office next Monday as scheduled.

Cheers,
RBH

Jack Sheng / Eforcity
Jack discusses how his business has changed over the past 12-18 months in conjunction with the changes at eBay. He also talks about what he hopes to see out of the company moving forward.

Social Media applied to eCommerce
Representatives from 1-800-Flowers.com, Best Buy, and drugstore.com discuss how they applied social media projects into their existing communications strategies.

Dawn Lepore / CEO of Drugstore.com
Dawn Lepore talks about how drugstore.com has dealt with the recession and addresses Amazon‘s place in eCommerce. She also discusses how drugstore.com is incorporating social media into its ecommerce strategy

This is my final post from Shop.org and includes two video clips from eBay CEO John Donahoe’s Q&A with Patti Freeman Evans, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester Research.

John Donahoe talks about how eBay has evolved beyond being a destination solely for small business owners & entrepreneurs to providing solutions for big retailers too.

John demonstrates how easy it is to send money via PayPal on his iPhone by sending Scot Wingo $10 from the stage.

I wish I had more video for you to be honest… because it was good stuff all around. However, I was live-blogging the proceedings via Twitter at the same time so couldn’t video continuously.

Hope you found it interesting nonetheless.

Cheers!
RBH

eCommerce Stats
o 88 million eBay users in 39 markets, nearly $60b worth of goods sold in 2008
o 75 million active PP accounts in 190 markets and 19 currencies
o The largest classifieds presence on earth – in more than 1,000 cities, and counting

Payments Stats
o $60b TPV in 2008
o Millions of merchants accept PP; great opportunity for incremental sales
o BML being integrated – adds more value for consumers
o Unmatched advantages (consumers, merchants, network): we bridge the best of web and payments

The second half of his presentation made for more interesting and compelling viewing. John reiterated his belief that customer behavior is driving changes in technology and offered two key areas as proof points – Open Platform & Mobile Commerce.

Open Platform
After giving an overview of the eBay Selling Manager Platform (a kind of app store for online sellers), John talked about how the PayPal platform will be opened to 3rd party development on November 3. He also demonstrated the ease of use of PayPal mobile (he sent Scot Wingo $10 via his iPhone in about 40 seconds direct from the stage).

Mobile Commerce
The meat of the preso, however, came during the closing focus on mobile commerce. It has been a topic of discussion in every presentation and session I’ve attended here at Shop.org and the one key theme has been that “Mobile Commerce is coming, and we need to be ready for it.” John took it a step further saying that it’s not coming down the road, it’s here now and it’s a force. First, John gave some market data to support his statement:

o By 2013, more than 40 percent of all U.S. Internet users will also use their mobile phones to get to the web. (eMarketer, June 2009)
o The iPhone accounts for 43 percent of mobile traffic today, yet the iPhone has only an 8 percent share of the market for mobile. This is the first and best platform for m-commerce … so far.

He then gave some hard data from eBay businesses that hammered it home:

Kijiji
The Kijiji classifieds app, which launched in June, has seen people use it to view nearly 2 million Kijiji ads, and thousands of people have already used it to post ads using their iPhones.

PayPal
PayPal’s Send Money app for iPhone launched last July …
o 1.6 million downloads
o WW coverage (190 countries)
o 15 languages supported
o 19 currencies supported
(It should also be pointed out that PayPal is the payment system for RIM’s BlackBerry World app store. Student Accounts launched, allowing parents to fund debit cards for their kids via mobile).

eBay
eBay Mobile app for iPhone launched last year and to date, it’s been downloaded by 4 million users, regularly appearing in the top 3 free apps in the lifestyle category.

All kinds of things sold through eBay mobile app … the most expensive include:
o A rare Lamborghini for $750k
o A $300k power boat

Mobile is our fastest-growing business. Our GMV so far this year through the eBay mobile app alone is about $350 million … and growing double digits week on week.

I managed to get some video footage of the Q&A with Patti Freeman Evans of Forrester Research but wanted to share some of the stats quoted throughout his presentation.

Stay tuned for more…

Cheers,
RBH

Newsweek cites the following under eBay’s Ranking:
Although the retail industry is not known for strong environmental management efforts, this online site is an exception. Has installed energy-efficient servers at data centers, invested in carbon offset projects and installed on-site solar installations resulting in carbon neutral operations for the past two years.

It’s a great achievement and one that I know the Green Team will be proud of. However, I know that the goal of everyone will be to move up the rankings by next year. Making the top 100 is a great accomplishment in itself but if you look at the Retail category, eBay is listed 11th behind such brands as Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy but ahead of Amazon.com and Nordstrom.

eBay’s business model from the beginning has been inherently green, serving as the world’s largest online marketplace for used, vintage and repurposed goods, and in that respect, it has been farther ahead in the game than most. However, that doesn’t mean that the company couldn’t operate in a more sustainable way. Given yesterday’s related news, it’s something that we’re obviously continuing to be committed to…

eBay Inc. Commits to 15% Corporate Emissions Reduction Target by 2012
I have become good friends with a number of people that drive the Green efforts of our company and I know, to a person, that they’re not doing this for awards or rankings. Simply put, they want to make eBay a “greener” company every day. They have the full support of executive management too. Yesterday, eBay announced its first ever greenhouse gas emissions target through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of corporate climate change information in the world. By 2012, eBay committed to reducing its corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over a 2008 baseline.

“eBay continues to demonstrate our long-term commitment to responsible energy use and environmental leadership with our first greenhouse gas emissions reduction target,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “As a company whose business continues to grow year over year, we recognize that the goal is ambitious, but we’re confident that it is achievable.”

It is only achievable of course, if everyone buys into it. Any effort of this kind isn’t something that you turn on and off as days go by; this is a lifestyle change and a shift in a way of thinking. We’ve seen this happen already with the eBay Green Team – a group of more than 2,000 employees in 23 countries who are committed to making eBay a greener company (I became a member earlier this year). The Green Team has taken on projects of all sizes, all over the world, some of which I’ve covered here on Ink. And it’s just the beginning.

So congratulations to eBay on it’s Newsweek Green Ranking but, more importantly, thank you for focusing on the reasons the ranking exists to begin with. Committing to energy efficiency, “greening” eBay’s operations and investing in renewable energy are vital as we move forward and grow as a company.

Cheers,
RBH

First, John announced that Stephanie Tilenius, head of global product and North America for eBay, has decided to transition out of her current role. She’ll become an advisor to John for the next few months and plans to leave the company in early 2010, following nine years with eBay. Having been in her current role for two years, Stephanie says she felt that with eBay’s turnaround under way, now was the right time for her to pursue other career ambitions, including opportunities to lead a company as CEO. Stephanie says she’s proud of the progress the eBay team has made, and she believes eBay’s best days are still ahead.

In a note to employees, John praised Stephanie’s passion and commitment for the business, and cited her many accomplishments over the past nine years, including building eBay’s business in Korea and Asia Pacific, strengthening eBay Motors, building PayPal’s merchant services from virtually nothing to a $1 billion-plus and rapidly growing business and, most important, her critical role in leading the eBay Marketplaces turnaround.

Stephanie’s position will not be filled, a move she recommended to further streamline and simplify eBay’s management structure. With that decision, Lorrie Norrington assumes direct responsibility for eBay North America, in addition to her role as the global head of eBay Marketplaces. Lorrie announced several changes, including the creation of a combined global product and technology team to be led by Mark Carges, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Combining product and technology is intended to help eBay accelerate innovation and optimize its end-to-end customer experience for sellers and buyers.

Also with an eye toward creating better experiences for sellers and buyers, Norrington announced that Dinesh Lathi will lead a combined seller and buyer organization, responsible for ensuring a seamless end-to-end customer experience.

From what I can tell at first glance, these changes can only mean good news for eBay buyers and sellers. Streamlining the business operations of any organization is a positive in the long run. In the case of eBay, and the real-time business of ecommerce, this should make for immediate returns. We’ve heard it repeatedly over the past year+ – everything the company does is directed at delivering trust, value and selection for buyers and velocity, efficiency and reliability for sellers.

I’m traveling this week to Shop.org in anticipation of John’s keynote there on Wednesday morning. I’m hoping to sit down with him and talk about today’s news; get his perspective… and yes, I’m taking the Flipcam.

Cheers,
RBH